Moro's Daughter
by Archangel Samuel
Summary: Pre-Movie. Moro gives birth to her first litter, but tragedy strikes. An unexpected visit from the Forest Spirit and two human mates helps to soften the blow. Please let me know if you enjoy the story.


Moro's Daughter

Moro's thoughts turned to her mate as she made her way slowly through the forest. She hadn't seen him since their last encounter several months ago. This wasn't uncommon; he tended to come and go as he pleased, but she thought he would have at least wanted to see his pups when they were born.

She growled slightly without meaning to. Though they were mates, they felt nothing deeper than affection for each other. Still, she expected him to have returned by now. Perhaps he had been killed. It wouldn't surprise her.

She paused as a contraction rippled through her body.

_Soon_, she thought. _Soon, but not yet._

She kept walking toward the pool of the Forest Spirit, feeling the weight of the restless pups in her belly. She wanted to be near the water when she gave birth; it was the safest area in the forest. And perhaps the Forest Spirit would come to bless her new children.

After all, this was Moro's first litter. _And probably my last_, the wolf god thought. Humans were moving closer and closer to the forest, often cutting down the trees to dig into the soil. It wouldn't be long before she would have to defend her home and family from them. She didn't expect to live another hundred years, not with the rate at which the human population was closing in.

But she would live long enough to take care of her pups. That much was certain. She had waited a very long time to become a mother, and her excitement had been building for weeks.

She winced slightly at the next contraction. _Almost there_...

She finally arrived at the pool and took a moment to drink some of its waters before lying down beside it. Now she just had to wait.

The contractions increased in length and intensity, and before long she was panting through the pain.

The need to push came very suddenly, and Moro bore down, letting her body guide her.

The first pup came quickly, almost painlessly. Moro eagerly began to clean her firstborn son, her heart bursting with joy.

When she looked up, the Forest Spirit was there, standing out on the water. Moro raised her head, showing off her new pup to him. He just stood there, unmoving. She wondered if he had just come to watch.

Very soon after, she was pushing again. This one took a little longer, but it came without too much difficulty. She was tiring, though, as she began to lick the new pup, another son.

The Forest Spirit took three steps toward her, across the water.

Moro looked down at her two sons. They were beautiful, covered in soft fur even more brilliant white than her own. They had begun to cry, emitting high, soft yips and whines. She nuzzled them lovingly.

The Forest Spirit stepped closer.

Moro did not notice, distracted by her new children. She winced again as a strong pain struck through her belly. There was still one more pup to be born.

This one didn't feel like the first two. She panted and strained through the contractions, but didn't seem to be getting anywhere. She stood up, laid down, rolled to her other side, and tried every position she could think of, but the breeched pup wouldn't come.

She took a moment to rest, completely exhausted. It hurt more than it was supposed to, and a short whimper escaped her lips. She would have been ashamed at her weakness if she wasn't so afraid for her pup. She knew every moment it stayed inside her brought it closer to death.

Moro began pushing as hard as she could, determined to save her pup.

It took several more minutes and the last of Moro's strength, but the pup finally came free. Moro immediately began to clean her new daughter. The little pup was no bigger than her brothers.

The Forest Spirit continued to approach.

The pup didn't move.

Moro began to panic. She licked and nudged her daughter, but there was no reaction. Her sons whined for attention, blindly feeling for their mother's soft belly. She ignored them as she desperately tried to awaken their sister.

Her efforts were in vain. The pup was dead.

Moro's eyes filled with tears. This wasn't how it was supposed to be.

She looked up to see the God of Life and Death standing directly in front of her and her dead pup. A growl rose in her throat.

"Give her back to me!" she barked at the god, tears spilling from her eyes. "YOU GIVE HER BACK!"

The Forest Spirit simply turned his head, gazing off somewhere into the woods.

Moro followed his gaze and her eyes landed upon two human mates frozen in fear. The mother held an infant in her arms. The father held a knife, which he had been using to mark the trees. What for, Moro did not know.

Moro growled, her grief and rage taking over. She stood up, still trembling from the ordeal her body had been through. She took a step toward the humans, her teeth bared.

The mother screamed. The father threw down the knife and tore the baby from its mother's arms. He laid it down before Moro.

"Be at peace!" he said, his voice cracking with fear.

"No!" the mother yelled, running for her baby.

The father grabbed his mate by the wrists and dragged her away.

"Let me go! My daughter! Not my daughter!" she shrieked, screaming and crying uncontrollably. Her mate would not let go. He half-dragged, half-carried the struggling woman into the woods until Moro could no longer hear her cries.

The wolf god would have followed and killed them right then if she had had the strength. Instead, she looked down at the meager offering set before her.

Moro opened her jaws to swallow the child whole, but stopped in surprise when the infant let out a strange, high pitched, wolf-like cry. Her sons cried in response, nuzzling their mother's legs, yearning for her warmth.

She examined the human child a moment, then nudged it with her wet nose. The child giggled in response, reaching her tiny hands up to touch the wolf god.

Moro turned back to the Forest Spirit. He gave her a short, almost imperceptible nod, then trotted away across the water.

Moro knew what she had to do. She took her dead pup in her jaws and slowly waded across the shallow pool. She buried her daughter at the base of the tree on the island. It was evening by then, and Moro raised her head to the night sky and howled her grief and suffering at the moon.

When all was quiet and still again, Moro waded back across. She approached the human child, lowered her head, and took it gently into her jaws. She carried it over to her sons and set it carefully down before collapsing in exhaustion. Her sons squirmed over to her belly, yipping softly.

She looked down at the tiny human child between her paws and whispered softly to her.

_"The Forest Spirit has given you to replace my third child. I will call you San. My daughter."_

Moro let her tears flow freely as she slowly drifted off to sleep, her first night as a mother.


End file.
